Christmas pictures

Thanks to my sister-in-law, I've finally figured out how to put this slideshow on the blog! Here are the Christmas pictures I wanted to include with my Christmas post.

Christmas 2009

The first weekend of December we enjoyed our annual Breakfast with Santa. A group of teachers from school all get together with our kids, bring a breakfast food to share, and take pictures with Santa. Molly and I have had breakfast with Santa since she was in kindergarten! It is a great tradition. December can be such a hectic month, but we found lots of time to enjoy our friends and family. Darryl took vacation starting on the 18th, so he was able to come up to school for Molly's class Christmas party. That evening we celebrated an early Christmas with my dad, Rise, Becky, Daniel, and Philip. We left for Birmingham on the 22nd, but split the drive into 2 days. We had lunch with my friend Lori and her 9 month old, Eli, when we passed through Waco. Lori and Eli live in Anchorage, AK, so we were so glad for the chance to see them! We stayed with Carolyn, Kimberly, and Molly Robin in Shreveport that night. Carolyn fixed a great dinner for us and we sat around the fire pit (when it wasn't raining on us!). I think Carolyn could start a fire with a wet rock--she is queen of great campfires! We also got to see Daniel Prothero, Wiley's son, but were sorry to miss Wiley and Madeline. We got to Birmingham the afternoon of the 23rd. That night we went to ZooLight Safari with my mom, Jimmy, Johnny, Tara, and Jack. It was lots of fun. We had Christmas Eve at my mom's house and then went to Johnny and Tara's on Christmas day. We really enjoyed playing with Jack! Molly was so good to her cousin and enjoyed having him around! While we were in Birmingham we drove around showing Darryl my old school and the house where I grew up. Darryl lived in Birmingham for a few years when he was in his twenties, so he showed us where he used to work and the places he used to go. We had Sunday brunch with everyone (except Mama who was teaching Children's Church) and got to meet Jimmy's girlfriend, Laura, and see my friend, Rachel. We left early Monday morning to make the drive back home. We had good weather and were fortunate to be on the other side of the interstate when traffic backed up for construction! We were glad to be home, but had a great Christmas in Birmingham!

October and November

The last 2 months have flown by, and I am playing catch up on the blog again! Here's what we were up to in October and November. (Seems I uploaded pictures from oldest to newest, so, to view things in chronological order, you'll have to start at the bottom of the post.)

Thanksgiving

Molly, Darryl, and I had a relaxing Thanksgiving--just the three of us!

Molly always loves the cranberry jelly!

Darryl did the turkey, and it was fabulous!


Spurs Game

Molly's teacher nominated her for a Tim Duncan Character Award. She got 2 Spurs' tickets, a shirt, and a certificate. The seats were high-up, of course, so we actually ended up sitting in a different area. The Spurs won, and we had a great time!

Camping

Molly and I met up with Carolyn and her Molly and Cynthia and Miriam for a girls' camping weekend in Rusk, Texas. We had so much fun!

We camped at the Texas State Railroad campgrounds and enjoyed seeing the old steam engine.

Of course we had to have s'mores!

The scenery was awesome!

Molly and Miriam caught frogs by the lake.


End of Season Picnic

Molly's team finished the season with 2 ties and the rest wins--no losses!

Halloween

Molly was a very cute Indian (excuse me, Native American) for Halloween.

Showing off one of our jack-o-lanterns.

I was very proud of my "welcome" jack-o-lantern.

Darryl made his pumpkin into a Dallas Cowboys' football helmet. It was very cool with stars on the sides and everything. We got him to put it on for pictures!

Molly with the "great pumpkin" in one neighbor's yard.


MultiAge Dinner Celebration

The multiage classes at school have a fall and spring dinner celebration where families bring their own dinner to eat together and then each class presents something they have been learning about in school. Here is Molly with some of her friends from school.

Another group picture.

Molly and Shelby introducing their class presentation about Johnny Appleseed.

Super Citizen Breakfast

Each 9 weeks, two students from each class are nominated for the "Super Citizen Award" at school. We have a breakfast for the kids and their families and the principal and counselor present certificates to the kids. Here's Molly with our principal.

Just after getting her certificate.


My trip to Waco

My friend, Valorie, and I in front of our freshman dorm at Baylor. She now lives in Memphis so it was fun to meet up over homecoming weekend in late October.

Dinner with old friends.

Khaki, Valorie, and I before our night out.


Zoomagination!

Molly and her friend, Abby, went to a Friday evening class for kids called Zoomagination. The instructors brought all kinds of animals--like this tarantula.

The wallaby (sp?)

The instructor is holding one of the hissing cockroaches.

The two toed sloth.

One of the macaws.

One of the cockatoos (sp?).

Molly and Abby had so much fun and learned a lot!

(And Molly took great pictures!!)

My Soccer Girl

Molly is playing soccer in our neighborhood league again this fall. I can't believe it's her 6th season! She is #4 (Uncle Johnny's old number) on the "Cobras." Their coach moved them up an age division this year. He felt they were ready for the challenge, but prepared them that, being the youngest team, they might lose most of their games. We'll see what next week holds, but they won their first game 4-0! It was so much fun to watch them.

Last Saturday, 9-19-09, they had team pictures before their first game.

(There is one other girl on the team, but she wasn't there for pictures.)

Molly loves to run, so soccer suits her well. Coach has the kids run laps at the beginning and end of every practice. I get tickled watching her lead the pack of boys each week. I'm not sure where she got it (neither her dad nor I particularly enjoy running), but she is so fast. My daddy always says she's got "crazy legs."

Molly and Anthony

Molly and Anthony met in preschool (at age 3) and instantly became friends. They go to different schools, so we always sign them up for the same team. It is fun for them to get to see each other, and the mamas like the time to catch up. Anthony has 3 little sisters who are the team's most loyal cheerleaders.

Back to School

Molly had a great week back to school! She loves her new teacher. In fact, her teacher this year is the daughter of the teacher she had for two years in 1st/2nd grade MultiAge. The teacher Molly had last year for 3rd/4th MultiAge would have been her teacher again this year, but she became our new computer teacher. Molly liked Mrs. Bassett also, but she is excited to have Ms. Smith. I think Ms. Smith is a great match for Molly and a very strong teacher, so I'm thrilled! Here are some of our traditional first day of school pictures...

Summer Memories

It's been forever (6 months!) since I lasted posted pictures, but I'm finally catching up--at least a little. Hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things and keep up a bit better. We've had a great summer! Here are the highlights...

Molly Robin, my Molly, and Miriam at the Ross family reunion at Lake LBJ

(This one got out of order. It should come after the lake pics.) Here's Molly and her brand new cousin, Oakley Grace. Molly got to spend a week with her Dad's family in Houston. She had a great time seeing everyone--especially her Grandma Nancy from Washington and her cousins!

Miriam, Molly, and Jack at the lake

All my Dad's kids and his two grandkids

Johnny, Tara (his wife), Jack (their son), me, Jimmy, Philip, Molly, Becky, and Daniel

Jack, Molly, and Grandpol

Molly and I spent a night in Houston with my former CAMP director, Sam, and his wife, Carla. They had a family friend, Hannah, staying with them also. It was a great visit.

Darryl, Molly, and I were able to meet Daniel, Alma, and Daniel's friend, Randall, at SeaWorld. Darryl arranged for us to go behind the scenes to get an up-close visit with Shamu.

Molly and her friend, Jordan, went to cheerleading camp together.

My mom got to visit for a week. We spent 4th of July at SeaWorld. Our favorite thing was doing the Beluga Interaction Program (courtesy of Darryl). We got to spend about 30 minutes in the water with four different belugas and trainers. It was amazing! They are so gentle. We wanted to play with them all day!

We took my mom behind the scenes to the dolphin pools, stingrays, sealions, and aqarium (coral reef fish and sharks)

Molly getting a beluga kiss

We were able to take a week long vacation to Disney World in July. It was a fantastic trip! Here's Molly with Tinkerbell--one of her favorite characters.

At Hollywood Studios

Molly's friend Abby and her family were in Disney World some of the same time we were. The girls got to spend one of their days together. Here they are in the "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" playground area. They had so much fun climbing through all the tunnels and getting soaked by the giant hose.

Molly with her lanyard and some of the trading pins she collected throughout the week.

Darryl and Molly with Big Thunder Mountain Railroad behind them. It was one of Molly's favorite rides in Magic Kingdom.

Darryl and Molly at Epcot on our only true rainy day.

Molly and me at Magic Kingdom with Cinderella's castle in the background

Molly with Daisy at one of the character breakfasts we went to. Daisy was so funny and spent a long time at the table with Molly. She was one of Molly's favorites.

Mickey and Molly at Donald's Safari Breakfast

We were fortunate and ended up seeing every character Molly hoped to see. I didn't put in all the character pictures, but some of her most favorites were Cinderella, Daisy, Tinkerbell and the other fairies, Mary Poppins, and Goofy.

It was definitely a trip to remember! I was so glad we were able to take her. She was just the perfect age--old enough to ride the rides and young enough to enjoy the magic of it all.